“Reaching Higher” Marks 5th Year

July 11, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The annual Reaching Higher showcases of Michigan’s top high school basketball players will return to South Lyon High School beginning with the boys event Wednesday, July 17, followed by the state’s top girls prospects taking the floor July 25.

More than 220 athletes with aspirations to play at the college level will train and scrimmage under the tutelage of high school coaches from across the state and in front of college coaches expected to represent all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and junior college levels. Coaches from 42 college basketball programs attended during the 2012 Reaching Higher events, including 12 from Division I schools.

This will be the fifth year of Reaching Higher. An educational effort by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, the Reaching Higher experience includes classroom sessions for student-athletes and their parents as well as on-court drills and scrimmaging. The events aim to give athletes a vision of what it takes to become a college basketball player and also succeed in college life.

Participants in the program were selected by a committee of BCAM members. The process began in December when local high school coaches submitted nominations to the selection committee. Participants were chosen in February.

A complete schedule of activities and invitees can be found on the “Reaching Higher” page of the MHSAA Website.

PHOTOS: Players face off during a scrimmage at the 2012 Reaching Higher girls basketball showcase at South Lyon High School. 

Paw Paw Hoops Heroes Closing in on Milestones, Rewriting School Record Book

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

November 19, 2024

PAW PAW — With a basketball pedigree that goes back a generation, Paw Paw’s Grace Mitchell is one of two seniors closing in on personal and school records.

Southwest CorridorMitchell is just 164 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club.

“After my sophomore year I was over 500 (points), so I knew I could get another 500 my last two years,” said Mitchell, adding that the milestone is one of her long-time goals.

And she’s not the only one pursuing it.

Teammate AJ Rickli, a 6-foot-2 center/power forward, needs just 110 points to hit the 1,000-point mark.

Rickli stacked up her points in just over two seasons, after moving up from junior varsity near the end of her freshman year.

Scoring isn’t the only strength the players bring to the team.

Mitchell, a 5-10 guard, needs just four 3-pointers to break the school record of 156, something second-year head coach Dan Thornton said could happen when the Red Wolves open the season Dec. 3 by hosting Mattawan.

She holds the school’s season record for treys with 72 and swished eight in one game, tying another school record.

“I shoot a lot,” Mitchell said. “I’ve always like shooting the farther shots since I was little, but sophomore year I really got good at my 3-point shots.”

She is not a one-dimensional player, either, with 126 assists and 150 steals heading into her fourth varsity season.

That’s where the two seniors complement each other.

“She’s a guard; I’m a post,” Rickli said. “Where I slack, she picks up. Where she slacks, I pick up. I get her rebounds.”

Thornton said both players could reach other school milestones this season.

From left: Paw Paw coach Dan Thornton, Rickli and Mitchell headshots.“Grace potentially could be closing in on marks for steals, assists, on top of her shooting percentage from the free throw line and 3-point line,” he said, adding that Rickli could break the records for rebounds and blocks.

The coach is not surprised he has two players heading into 1,000-point territory.

“Last year we averaged about 75 points per game, and we had four different players average about double figures,” he said. “There were a lot of games where we’d get three, four and some games six people in double figures.

“It also meant everyone was scoring between 10 and 13 or 14 points per game. It made it very challenging on opposing defenses because if they focus too much on one, the other four would get very favorable matchups.”

Just two days into practice, Thornton said he plans to fill out his roster after Wednesday’s practice, laughing, “(Grace and AJ) both have a chance to make varsity.”

The Red Wolves graduated five seniors in the spring, two of them starters, from last year’s 22-3 team that advanced to a Division 2 District Final.

“It’s going to take a lot of determination and drive from everybody on the team (to move past Districts),” Rickli said. “Everybody has to contribute. Everybody has to want it the same, and we’ve got to have a team goal. And we will.”

Thornton will rely on Rickli and Mitchell for leadership, especially for those brought up from the junior varsity team.

“The two girls bring veteran leadership,” Thornton said. “They’ve both been through playing on varsity, playing in big games for a number of years.

“Both have had huge success over the years. I expect them to help nurture along younger players, guide them through our goals throughout the season.”

Rickli said the most important thing for new players is to let them know their roles.

“I’ll help the posts in their position. Grace will help the guards in their position and give them confidence,” Rickli said. “We’ll help them in practice. We’re not going to take it easy on them, because that won’t help them at all. We’ll push them in practice to get them used to varsity play.”

'Batman and Superman'

Rickli and Mitchell have been best friends and on the same hoops teams since second grade.

“We work really good together because we’re each other’s best friend, and we’ve played together forever,” Mitchell said. “We know what each other wants.

"I know how to get (the ball) in to her, and she knows when to kick it out to me. When I miss my shot, she gets my rebound and puts it back up, so it works out pretty good.”

Rickli, whose formal first name is Arin Jolyn, also plays volleyball and competes in the shot put and discus, but prefers basketball.

“Basketball just comes to me easier than the other sports,” she said. “I like the contact sports.”

Mitchell, who has committed to Alma College for golf and basketball, is keeping up her family hoops tradition.

“She comes from a very, very heavy basketball family,” said Thornton, who has been involved in coaching for 35 years and needs just 12 more varsity wins for 400. “Her father (Rick Mitchell) is legendary in basketball throughout most of Southwest Michigan. Her Uncle Gary (Mitchell) was a longtime coach (at Paw Paw), the same as her father, who is in the Paw Paw Hall of Fame.

“To have that kind of constant exposure at a young age to basketball from her family, be it her siblings or uncle or dad, probably helped Grace.”

Both girls are unselfish and supportive of their teammates, he said, adding, “They do a good job helping each other be successful. They’re very much Batman and Superman, you could say, because one of them excels in a certain area of the game and the other excels in another area. 

“The fact that the players, the team, aren’t selfish really speaks to the parenting with these players, how they’ve been raised and how they are willing to give up a good shot for themselves to give someone else a great shot.”

Pam ShebestPam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS (Top) At left, Paw Paw senior AJ Rickli gets a shot up against Otsego last season; at right, senior Grace Mitchell releases a jumper. (Middle) From left: Paw Paw coach Dan Thornton, Rickli and Mitchell. (Action photos by René Rodriguez; head shots by Pam Shebest.)